Music Appreciation: Pavanne by Morton Gould
It’s summer already – wow! The rest of May was a blur, so I’m much later with this post than I’d planned.
Ah well, such is life. Since summer band is in full swing, I thought I’d talk about a piece that showed up in my folder recently, “Pavanne” by Morton Gould (1913-1996).
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There’s a good chance you’ve heard something by Gould, even if you don’t know it’s him, specifically “American Salute“. He had a long a fruitful career, including being the staff pianist at the newly-opened Radio City Music Hall and many years of composing and conducting for various ensembles.
“Pavanne” is the second, and most popular, movement of Gould’s American Symphonette No. 2, which was premiered in 1938. It incorporates jazz and swing elements into an orchestral piece.
A bouncy start
Gould introduces the piece with a light and bouncy little bass line (which rather reminds me of Grainger’s “Molly on the Shore”). A solo muted trumpet presents our theme (0:08). It’s a fun, jazzy ditty. At 0:18, the clarinets join in the accompaniment with sustained chords, finishing with a bouncy echo. Back to the melodic line, it’s actually a flute who finishes off the theme, taking over from the trumpet (0:27).
At 0:34, the solo trumpet once again spins his melody, this time with the strings hopping along underneath. We don’t hear as much of the theme, as there’s a shift in mood at 0:46. More of the brass enter on
A heavier mood
There’s a change in orchestration at 1:11 – I do believe I’m hearing saxes on the new accompaniment line. While there’s still a lot of rhythmic activity going on with the accompaniment, it has a heavier feel both in mood and movement. The oboe and bassoon present new melodic material at 1:17. The line is long and smooth. The trumpets take over and raise the pitch at 1:29. Everyone comes in at 1:42 to start closing out the theme and the flute, once again, has the final say (1:48).
We’re ushered into a recap of the first theme, but instead of solo trumpet, we’re treated to some woodwinds playing it (1:57). Notice that while we still get the bouncy bass line, he’s continued the rhythm from the previous section. It has a different chordal structure and is played lightly by the strings, but the rhythm is there.
The trumpet section plays the second part of the main theme. However, this time we don’t get the bouncy echo like the clarinets played earlier. He continues with the current accompaniment rhythm (2:18). Then he gives a quick shoutout to the trombones before the flute (who else?) and others finish the theme.
Back to the bounce
At 2:25, we’re back to the trumpet ditty, with the bouncy bass and hopping strings. We get a glimpse of the driving line again at 2:38, but he adds a descending harmonic line underneath. There’s an answer of the rhythmic accompaniment figure, then the driving/descending figure again played by the saxes. The muted trumpets take their turn answering in rhythm (2:47) before the final soft, short notes of the piece.
Thanks for joining me on this summer diversion. I hope your June is going well so far and I’ll see you again soon!
